Professors Say Smoking Marijuana Can Cause Psychosis & Schizophrenia

Two professors at London's Institute of Psychiatry have conducted research on how heavy consumption of cannabis may affect brain functions, and have produced brain scans that aim to prove how the drug can cause psychosis and schizophrenia in a small percentage of the population that smoke marijuana regularly.

Scientists, health advocates and doctors have been conducting research into the effects of cannabis for decades. The 1936 cult classic "Reefer Madness" is an propaganda tale of harmful marijuana addiction, in which users become the equivalent of dangerous maniacs bent on violence, sex and mayhem after one puff of a marijuana cigarette. A large variety of early films shown in school also aimed to teach children about the dangerous effects of smoking marijuana. The films are laughable by today's standards, but while the effects of smoking marijuana in these films may have been wildly exaggerated, there is still no shortage of concern over the effects of frequent cannabis consumption.

Professor Philip McGuire and Zerrin Atakan used MRIs to show that patients who had received a dose of the active cannabis compound tetrahydrocannabinol, more commonly referred to as THC, exhibited reduced brain function in an area associated with emotional and behavioral control and response

Professor Philip McGuire says that the THC acts as an inhibitor, in effect switching off that particular area of the brain, the inferior frontal cortex brain region, which results in increased paranoia.

The professors, like many others, are growing increasingly concerned about the stronger marijuana available today, also known as skunk. Skunk marijuana is a new variety of cannabis cultivated to produce the highest amount of THC possible, in effect doubling the amount of THC found in marijuana only a short time ago.

Professor Philip McGuire and Zerrin Atakan will discuss their research at the International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference at the Institute of Psychiatry.

Some say that the effects of cannabis are more appropriately linked to the users genetics, whereby smoking large amounts of marijuana may in fact cause psychosis in some, it has been shown to have positive effects in treating patients suffering from psychosis and other ailments.

Regardless of the findings, it seems that cannabis research is far from complete, and further research on skunk marijuana will need to be conducted.